Yesterday I ate a poisonous plant. And I’m still here! (DISCLAIMER! I don't pretend to know all the safety guidelines for eating this plant! Do your own research if you plan to pick and eat this plant; don't go by what I say here.)To be clear, the part I consumed wasn't poisonous. And the plant is not necessarily poisonous in a lethal sense. Many Alaska natives have used it for medicinal purposes for a long time. I ate devil’s club buds, which are edible for an extremely short timeframe in the spring. I read what I could in preparation, though it seems not many people have been brave enough to eat a plant whose spines give a nasty rash, or worse. (My main inspiration and guidance was this blog post by a well-known local cook.) My husband wasn’t too excited about eating this unfamiliar and unproven wild food, but I was determined to expand my skills of foraging for and eating Alaska’s bounty. We had been out of town for a week, so we almost missed our opportunity since we hadn’t been able to check the progress of the buds around our house. We checked the other night and decided we couldn't wait another day; if we did the buds might start unfurling (quickly becoming the HUGE leaves they are in summer) and the spines would harden. So we donned gloves and carefully tromped through the woods.

We just had normal clothes on, and because we didn't want to be poked with the painful spines that cover the stems or have to pick them out of our clothes later, we only chose buds from plants around the edges of the devil's club clusters. During the winter, each plant consists of mainly just a brown, spiny stick (as seen above).

We found a few pretty fiddlehead ferns (below) along the way! These are another Alaskan delicacy that are edible for a short timeframe.

The spring evening was just beautiful, with golden light coating all the vegetation around us. The sun isn't setting this time of year until after 10 PM, and the birds are awake and happy late into the evening. Buds and baby leaves are out on all the plants, and the rhubarb plants in the garden already have huge leaves!

Then came the kitchen work. I didn't want to stay up late, so I put the buds in a bowl, sealed them up, and then stuck them in the fridge overnight. The next day, I carefully went through and weeded out ANY buds I was unsure of. I wanted only the greenest, most spineless buds possible for this experiment! I didn't quite know what I was doing.

I rinsed my careful selection well and then blanched them for a couple minutes, followed by an ice bath to stop the cooking, as Laurie instructs in the blog post I mentioned in my second paragraph. The juice from the buds stained my fingers and knife. Fortunately it came off with a little scrubbing. I didn't expect that brown color to come from these pretty green buds!

I finally had a whole bunch of buds ready to cook with or eat. I froze a few bagfuls and kept a little bit out to cook up (plus a few fiddlehead ferns we picked to eat).

I cooked them in some butter and garlic, with fresh-ground lemon pepper on top. The taste is hard to describe, but it's woodsy and almost spicy. The texture is soft, and they are definitely a unique Alaskan treat!

If you want to see what devil's club looks like in its summer form, visit this page and look at the picture across the top of the page! You can also scroll down to read about the plant.

Mary Anne, I think it was very dangerous experiment. I always do not pick up the plants for meals if I'm not sure. But I often go hunting mushrooms in the woods I know many edible varieties.

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Mary Anne Brady

5/11/2015 10:37:02 pm

Nadezda, neither do I. We have so many kinds of berries here in Alaska, and quite a few are poisonous. I don't know many of the edible plants, but this one I knew was in its edible state. You are much braver than I am when it comes to mushrooms! I think a lot of the poisonous and edible ones look too alike and I just stick to the ones in the stores.

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Heather

5/11/2015 09:34:11 pm

Fun! I'm not sure if I would have been confident enough to do this, but I sure enjoyed seeing the process you went through :)

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Mary Anne Brady

5/11/2015 10:40:11 pm

I knew the buds were OK to eat, but it still felt so weird to eat something that can make me so itchy (when I accidentally brush it on a trail)! Always up for a little adventure here in Alaska. :)

Mary Anne, this reminds me of when Mom and I flew into the little village of Shaktoolik with our friends Gilbert and Eva. It was summer and the villagers had been gathering the leaves of local plants to eat as vegetables. Ever the adventurer(!), Mom tried a leaf. It didn't taste bad, but she chewed and chewed and never did succeed in swallowing it!

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Mary Anne Brady

5/15/2015 12:37:54 am

The number of wild foods and medicinal treatments the natives have here is amazing! I'd like to learn more of them.

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neil

5/12/2015 01:37:00 am

If you are still alive - grat job. I would have been too afraid to try. Super photos.

Hi Mary Anne,
Great post. This was my first season ever harvesting devil's club. I've lived in Anchorage my whole life and have not known this plant to make me itch when I encounter it (although its spikes are pretty brutal). Cow parsnip, or pushki, looks a lot like devil's club and that stuff can make you itchy if you brush by it on a sunny day because it's photosensitive. Not fun, that's for sure.

What else do you have planned for your harvesting adventures? I'm just waiting for the boletes to come up, but that's not for another month or so.

I'm having fun poking around your site.

Best,
Natasha

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Mary Anne Brady

6/5/2015 08:28:42 am

Thanks for visiting, Natasha! Isn't it a fun adventure to forage for what we have right in front of us, especially if it's a "daring" food? :)

I've only gotten itchy/rashy when the spikes have broken off in my skin. I haven't brushed up against cow parsnip that I know of, but I've heard that's no fun either!

I'm not sure what else I'll forage for besides berries later. I should look at your site and get inspired!! I love learning what's edible in my back yard. :)

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Nan

12/22/2017 02:11:59 pm

I had the fortune to try pickled devil club buds, oh gosh they were so good. Next spring it is my goal to make some, good food.

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Mary Anne's Alaska

12/24/2017 09:46:53 pm

That sounds delicious! I would love to try them pickled! Hope you get a chance to try your hand at it!

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I'm a mom of twins, published author, editor, amateur photographer, and nature enthusiast with an unlimited supply of curiosity. Come discover the little wonders I find during my everyday life in Alaska.